The 30 tensest moments in cinema history

Don’t know where my editor found the images but they have little to do with the actual scenes mentioned in most cases.

Before you go there, though, I’d like to take a second to acknowledge two scenes and three actors that I couldn’t mention in the article as they come from TV and not film.

For me, these are two of the most tense scenes I’ve ever seen. The first came at the climax of season 1 of Showtime’s Homeland.

Damian Lewis has a bomb vest strapped to his chest, and is about to follow through with his plan to detonate it, when he receives a phone call from his daughter. Lewis, in this scene, is simply magnificent!

The second comes from last year’s third season of Twin Peaks, which I’ve written a little about in the past. the scene features Laura Dern and Kyle Maclachlan talking to each other through a glass partition in prison. It’s one of my favourites from the series and bristles with tension from start to finish.

These two would have been high on the list if I’d been able to include TV. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the article. You can find my other Taste of Cinema lists here: